The list of academic options at Oakland University is constantly
growing. OU currently offers more than 120 undergraduate degrees
and more than 120 graduate and certificate options. Students have
the opportunity to participate in high-level research as early as
their freshman year.

From important registration reminders to daily events, stay focused on the
finish line while getting the most out of your educational experience.
More than 200 active student organizations take learning to a new level,
while student service offices are here to help you succeed.

Over 100,000 alumni proudly call OU their alma mater. Upon graduation, you will
automatically be welcomed as a member of Oakland University's very active Alumni
Association. Alumni stay connected through networking, volunteering and mentorship
programs.

Nearly half a million people visit campus each year to explore OU's cultural icons,
such as the home to OU's founder, our very own National Historic Landmark. Be
inspired by guest speakers from around the world, or awed by artwork, student,
faculty and guest performances.

Your gift matters! Contributions from alumni and friends create opportunities that prepare Oakland University students to be leaders. Support the OU Fund (the area of greatest need), scholarships, athletics, the library, Meadow Brook Hall, or one of the hundreds of other areas that make Oakland unique.

The Grizzlies' growing Division I athletics program is a member of the Horizon
League, one of the NCAA's top performing leagues. Athletes can also be found in
dozens of club and intramural sports, or playing recreational games of disc or
ball golf on one of OU's courses.

Combined Heat and Power Systems (CHP)

Oakland University Facilities Management and the School of Engineering are actively pursuing Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installations, research and educational opportunities, located at the Rochester, Michigan campus.

April 30, 2015: Lansing, Michigan at the Downtown Radisson One day conference on CHP technology, policy, and project development. Check back soon for more information & registrationClick here for a Conference Flyer / Brochure

CHP systems use on-site electrical power production where the waste heat can be recovered, or recycled, back into the facility to serve heating, hot water, or thermally driven air conditioning loads. CHP is therefore much more efficient than using conventional grid power where centralized power plants reject this waste heat back to mother nature and then transmit the electric power over long distances with resulting losses. The differential in fuel price to the local electrical price determines the economics of CHP installations. Current clean, abundant, and low cost natural gas make CHP the clean energy system of choice for reducing your carbon footprint. Between the gains in efficiency, and switching from coal fired grid power, you a facility could substantially reduce its carbon footprint by merely implementing this proven, reliable on-site power option.

OU is investigating a 3 to 6 MW CHP installation of a gas fired combustion turbine in our Central Plant. We currently operate a central High Temperature Hot Water plant serving all of campus. Four large absorption chillers use this hot water to create cooling for about 1/3 of the campus making CHP an ideal technology for Oakland.

OU is installing two 200 kilowatt micro-turbine CHP units into the new Engineering Center presently under construction. This innovative new green building will be open for classes in for Fall 2014. The building will also feature chilled beam cooling with magnetic bearing chillers.

Natural Gas All forms of energy production have environmental impacts. Even renewable technologies such as solar, wind and hydro consume energy and resources during their manufacture. Their deployment takes up space, land, and interacts with the natural and human environment where there are installed. However, the environmental impacts of fossil fuel exploration, extraction, and combustion are significant enough to look for alternatives. Of these three, methane (CH4), or natural gas, has the lowest amount of carbon dioxide produced during combustion. This is due the it's highest Hydrogen to Carbon ratio (H/C ratio) of all hydrocarbon fuels. This is a significant benefit to energy production from conventional sources. The low carbon output combined with the extremely high efficiency of on-site CHP gives natural gas CHP the ability to significantly lower the carbon footprint of electrical production. Natural gas is clean burning, low sulfur, and convenient to use.

However, even our clean burning natural gas has serious issues. During extraction and transportation to the customer, way to much CH4 gas escapes. Methane is 20 times more potent as a climate change gas than CO2, therefore this is a significant problem that needs to be reduced and managed. Hydraulic fracturing techniques for gas extraction are also causing water and environmental contamination on a massive scale. The lack of regulation, lack of water recycling, and lack of care by many, many drillers in a gold rush style exploration boom is supplying cheap and abundant gas to the United States. These issues must be resolved and there will be costs associated with proper water, drilling, and clean up of natural gas production. While gas production and transportation is the largest source of human methane emissions, other significant emitters of methane are cattle (or enteric fermentation the digestive process of rumens), landfills, and coal mining.